A huge cohort of older health care workers is headed for retirement. But a study shows that older nurses stay on the job longer.

Underlining the need for recruiting workers into health care from other fields is the estimate that approximately 4,600 health care professionals in southeastern Michigan will retire in the next five years. The percentage of health care workers in the region who are between 30 and 50 will drop by 2010, while the 50-and-over age groups will rise.

PERCENTAGE OF NURSES WHO CHANGED HOSPITALS WITHIN PAST TWO YEARS, BY AGE GROUP

Younger nurses are a much more mobile population than their older colleagues, according to a study of 1,600 nurses by the Health Care Advisory Board. That’s a factor that might bode well for nursing programs that focus on training career-changing workers.